Obesity is a complex chronic disease involving environment, genetic, physiologic, metabolic, behavioral and psychological components. It is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
Obesity affects nearly one-third of the adult American population (approximately 60 million). The number of overweight and obese Americans has continued to increase since 1960. The trend is not slowing down. Today, 64.5% of adult Americans are categorized as being overweight or obese. Each year, obesity causes at least 300,000 excess deaths in the United States, and healthcare costs of American adults with obesity amounted to approximately $100,000,000,000 (100 billion dollars).
Obesity is not limited to the United States but is increasing worldwide. It is increasing worldwide in both developing and developed countries and is thought to be caused by environmental and behavioral changes resulting from economic development, modernization, and urbanization. Obesity is increasing in children as well. It is believed that the true health consequences of obesity have not yet become totally apparent.
Obesity is currently treated by dietary therapy, physical activity, behavioral therapy, drug therapy, and combinations thereof. Dietary therapy involves instruction on how to adjust a diet to reduce the number of calories eaten. Physical activity strategies include use of aerobic exercise, brisk walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming. Behavioral therapy involves changing diet and physical activity patterns and habits to new behaviors that promote weight loss. Drug therapy is most often used only in conjunction with appropriate lifestyle modifications.
One last treatment for obesity is surgery. Surgery is a treatment option which is generally reserved for persons with severe obesity and those who are morbidly obese. In addition, surgery is not generally performed until other methods of weight loss have been attempted and have been found to be ineffective. Persons who are severely obese are generally unable to physically perform routine daily activities, whether work-related or family functions and have a severely impaired quality of life due to the severity of their obesity.
Most obesity surgeries involve making changes to the stomach and/or small intestines. Currently, there are two types of obesity surgery: (1) restrictive; and (2) combined restrictive and malabsorptive. Operative procedures have been developed for each type of surgery. Each type of surgery has its own risks and side effects.
In restrictive surgery, bands or staples are used to create food intake restriction. The bands or staples are surgically placed near the top of the stomach to section off a portion that is often called a stomach pouch. A small outlet, about the size of a pencil eraser, is left at the bottom of the stomach pouch. Since the outlet is small, food stays in the pouch longer and the feeling of fullness lasts for a longer time. Current operative procedures for restrictive surgery include vertical banded gastroplasty, gastric banding, and laparoscopic gastric banding. In vertical banded gastroplasty, a stomach pouch is surgically created. In gastric banding, a band is used to create the stomach pouch. In laparoscopic gastric banding, a less invasive procedure, smaller incisions are made to apply the band. The band is inflatable and may be adjusted over time.
Each of the foregoing therapies for severe obesity has its risks and side effects. Each is invasive surgery and hence exhibits the risks commonly associated with all surgical procedures. Complications may include leaking of stomach juices into the abdomen, injury to the spleen, band slippage, erosion of the band, breakdown of the staple line, and stomach pouch stretching from overeating.
However, reductive surgery has proven successful. About 80% of patients lose some weight and 30% reach a normal weight. Hence, the benefits of gastric reduction surgery are generally believed to outweigh the attendant risks and potential complications.
The present invention is directed to an alternative device, system, and method for achieving gastric reduction. As will be seen hereinafter, the device, system, and method do not require surgical incisions and is thus less invasive than previous reduction therapies.